Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show

Podcast 179: A Conversation with Catherine Russell

Straight No Chaser is the place for jazz lovers (and those who will soon be jazz lovers) to enjoy podcasts with their favorite music and artists. Winner of the 2017 JazzTimes Readers' Poll for Best Podcast, your host Jeffrey Siegel will take you inside the world of jazz, from the new releases to the best festiva;s to remembrances of jazz legends.

You’ve heard Catherine Russell – you
just might not realize you have. She’s paid the rent for years as
an in-demand backup singer for rock artists like Steely Dan and
David Bowie, and toured as part of the “American Beauty Project”, a
rootsy tribute to the early 70’s music of the Grateful
Dead.

On her own, she has released three
exceptional albums, the latest of which, Inside this Heart of Mine,
is being released this week. Backed by a talented trio
of

Catherine uses her unerring sense of
song selection and vocal prowess to move squarely onto the list of
today’s finest female jazz singers. Think of the down-home sound of
Cassandra Wilson mixed with the traditional delivery of Dianne
Reeves, and you’ll get the drift. On the strength of this release,
you’ll be hearing from her for some time to come.

Catherine is the daughter of two
outstanding jazz musicians. Her father, Luis Russell, emigrated
from Panama and made a name for himself in New Orleans, before
ending up with Louis Armstrong as his musical director in the mid
1940’s. Her mother, Carline Ray, was a Juilliard graduate played
with stalwarts like Mary Lou Williams and with the International
Sweethearts of Rhythm, the seminal all-female band of the bop
era.

I spoke with Catherine about her new
album, her band, the joys of being a backing singer and how she
chooses her material recently. Click here to listen to the Podcast,
and enjoy musical selections including:

Catherine Russell – “You Were Made for
Me” from Cat. An obscure Sam Cooke
song becomes a realistic look at romance in Catherine’s hands. So
good that my wife and I used it for our wedding.

Catherine Russell – “We the People” from
Inside this Heart of
Mine. A never before
covered Fats
Waller tune from an originally unreleased recording,
the song comes across as a tongue-in-cheek populist manifesto
from the Great Depression, which implores legislators to provide
“syncopation” as the surest way to “please the people.” Maybe
Congress today could follow the
advice?

Luis Russell’s Hot Six– “29th
and Dearborn” from The Ultimate Jazz Archive.
Recorded in October of 1926 in Chicago, Cathereine's dad Luis
Russell led a band composed of himself on piano, Barney Bigard on
tenor sax, Kid Ory on trombone, George Mitchell on cornet, Johnny
St. Cyr on banjo and Richard m. Jones on “speech”. Ory and St. Cyr were also members
of Louis Armstrong’s “Hot Five”, recording classics like “West End
Blues”.

Catherine Russell – “Luci” from
Sentimental
Streak. Written by Catherine, she calls
it a “gift of the muse”, coming to her one evening and serving as
warning to change your evil ways. The band is Larry Ham on piano,
Lee Hudson on bass, Brian John Mitchell on piano and James
Wormworth on drums, with Larry Campbell giving a hand on guitar and
mandolin.

Catherine Russell – “New Speedway
Boogie” from Cat. A jazzy, bluesy
version of the Robert Hunter-Jerry Garcia composition originally
recorded by the Grateful Dead to comment on the tragedy at the
Altamont concert outside of San Francisco. She stopped the show each night
on the American Beauty Project tour.

Steely Dan – “Love is Like an Itching in
My Heart/Band Introductions” recorded live in Boston during the
Rent Party '09 tour. Walter Becker introduces his
fellow musicians while the backing trio of Catherine, Tawatha Agee
and Carolyn Leonhart-Escoffery cover the Supremes’ classic. Among
the other jazz stalwarts in the band were Marvin Stamm on
trumpet and Freddie Washington on bass.

Catherine Russell – “Troubled
Waters” from Inside
this Heart of Mine. An underappreciated tune scored by
the Duke Ellington Orchestra for
both Ivey Anderson and Mae West(!) , performed here as a sultry meditation . The
band - Mark Shane on piano, Lee Hudson
on bass, and Brian Grice on drums – crackles with
intensity.